It has been more than three decades since we first saw those inflammatory and offensive photos of Jane Fonda – Hanoi Jane – wearing a Viet Cong helmet, smiling and posing with members of a North Vietnamese anti-aircraft unit. But there she was yesterday in Washington, D.C., headlining an anti-war demonstration and bringing back unpleasant memories for thousands of Vietnam era veterans and millions of other Americans.
Hanoi Jane was joined by other Hollywood actors known for their political activism and off-camera escapades: Sean Penn, Tim Robbins and wife Susan Sarandon, all labeling Bush and his administration as “mean spirited and vengeful.”
Fonda, now 69, noted this was the first peace rally she had spoken at in 34 years. Her long absence, she said, was due to “the lies that had been spread about her anti-Vietnam activities.” Yet not long ago she found it appropriate to issue a public apology for those very same activities. And it seemed for a time that Vietnam era veterans would be content to let her misreckonings simmer on a back burner.
But yesterday’s in-your-face pronouncements by Fonda and her Hollywood cohorts resulted in a very inverse outcome. Many pro-Vietnam War veterans say they were outraged a second time by Fonda’s appearance. Meanwhile, Tim Robbins called for the impeachment of President Bush, saying “Let’s get him out of office before he starts ruling from a bunker” – an obvious reference to Adolf Hitler’s last days in an underground fortification in Berlin.
Sean Penn, the actor with the perpetual sneer on his face, said he planned to “target” anyone in Congress who did not back cutting off funding for the war. Penn also warned politicians they had better condemn the latest strategy of Bush in a non-binding vote early next month. Penn’s wife, Susan Sarandon, accused the government of cutting funds for returning veterans, and mocked Bush’s statement that “we are fighting the war over there so we don’t have to fight it here.” It was also Penn who recently called for the impeachment of Vice President Cheney as Penn received a “First Amendment Award” from a group called The Creative Coalition, and which just happens to be founded by his wife, Sarandon.
While the majority of Americans have become critical of the war in Iraq and question the wisdom of sending an additional 21,500 troops to help quell the civil war there, the venomous words of Fonda and her Tinseltown companions yesterday have managed to reopen and infect old wounds. It is also ironic that one of the reasons Muslims hate us so, is because of the alien and decadent culture that American movies and television regularly export overseas and which threatens basic Muslim morals and values. Then there is the so-called Hollywood life style: drugs, same-sex marriages, multiple marriages (start counting Fonda’s) conspicuous consumption, and general self-loathing. Anyone remember Fonda’s 1960s film “Barbarella” and her erotic zero-gravity striptease?
“Silence is no longer an option,” chanted Fonda. Yes, Hanoi Jane, is your case it is
– Chase.Hamil
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“It is also ironic that one of the reasons Muslims hate us so, is because of the alien and decadent culture that American movies and television regularly export overseas and which threatens basic Muslim morals and values. Then there is the so-called Hollywood life style: drugs, same-sex marriages, multiple marriages (start counting Fonda’s) conspicuous consumption, and general self-loathing.”
One only needs to take a cursory look at the world to understand that it is not “Muslims” who hate us, and that terrorism is not really rooted in dislike of Hollywood or whatever. For one thing, such a thesis is contradicted by the fact that many countries that are primarily Muslim are allied with the U.S., there are many Muslims living within the U.S., and millions worldwide who have no desire to attack the U.S. or even “hate us”. Also, many Muslims, including suicide bombers and their leaders, consume such Americana happily. And as far as Hollywood, drugs, failed marriage, etc. go, it is just insane to think that people would go to all the trouble of training and give their life because they didn’t like these things, especially in another country. Look at how things are in our country. There are all sorts of people in our country who hate these things, many of them religious fundamentalists with important similarities in worldview to Muslim fundamentalists, and more (like me) who are troubled by many of them. But organizing and conspiring to wage a terrorist war against them makes no sense at all, since each of these problems can be easily avoided (by not watching TV or movies you don’t think you’ll like, by not trying dangerous drugs, by not getting married or working on problems in your own, etc.). The main contributor to suicide terrorism, including that conducted by Middle Eastern Muslims (who don’t actually make up a majority of suicide bombers), is regional turmoil and U.S. foreign policy which has been a major contributor to that turmoil for decades. If we helped Middle Eastern countries and peoples becoming sovereign and democratic and take control of their political lives, and removed our occupations while working towards a standard two-state solution with Israel and Palestine, terrorism would be decreased almost overnight, instead of increased like it has been by our recent military operations.
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